Colorado Avalanche / NHL

Red Wings difficult to dislike

Some remnants of the Colorado-Detroit rivalry remain, and that's what a rivalry is, I suppose.

The fans can have longer memories than the players or the organizations, and they're better than most athletes are at thinking more of the logos on the front than of the names on the back of the jerseys.

But . . .

Can anyone really muster genuine enmity for this Red Wings team? It goes far beyond the Red Wings' international cast and the history made when Swede Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European captain to hoist the Stanley Cup.

The NHL didn't go global yesterday.

Even the old Colorado Rockies had a famous (albeit for the wrong reasons) Swede, goalie Hardy Astrom, and a handful of Finns.

The cliches of derision about Europeans in general, and Swedes in particular, became laughable long ago and have been dismissed by anyone credible for ages. Even the most xenophobic and myopic of Canadians who adhere to the old- school North American philosophies (and they're in the minority now, even in Canada) long ago came to grips with accepting the fact that the NHL couldn't — and shouldn't — ban Europeans. And most accept that Europeans, visors and all, can be as competitive and gritty as anyone from Saskatoon.

Virtually every dressing room in the NHL is such a mini-United Nations, there should be a picture of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the wall.

This is more about the Wings' organizational wisdom in scouting and selecting the right Europeans, often late in the draft, and assembling a roster that displays impressive combinations of skill, grit and savvy.

How can anyone hate that?

Scheduling issue.

This got a bit lost with so much else going on, but at the Finals, even commissioner Gary Bettman brought up the fuel-price crisis when again trying to defend the NHL's regular- season schedule.

The ridiculous system implemented in the wake of the lockout has run its three- year cycle, but the tweaks for next season are more minor than major, given that teams still won't visit every other NHL arena every season.

It's impossible to dispute his "new" point — that with teams chartering and with fuel costs so high, anything that lessens travel makes economic sense. That still comes off like reaching for a rationalization after the fact, rather than considering all the evidence and making a decision.

But if that's the way it's going to be, then the NHL should consider altering its playoff system, not just copying the NBA's 2-3-2 Finals format, but using it in every round.

It was less important this season because of the proximity of Pittsburgh and Detroit, but the 2-2-1-1-1 format in the Finals, and the inability to do much advance planning, has provided excuses for many newspapers to skip sending writers to the league's championship series.

Go to 2-3-2 in every round. Splitting the first two at home puts you in position to lose the next three on the road and be eliminated. So? If you can't win one of three consecutive games on the road, you don't deserve to win the series. And get back home for Game 6, even trailing 3-2, and you win the series by holding serve in the final two.

Masterton Trophy.

Carolina defenseman Glen Wesley announced his retirement last week, and here's a confession: I voted for him in the balloting for the Masterton Trophy.

The Professional Hockey Writers Association awards that to the player judged to exemplify "perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey."

That's Wesley.

With all due respect to my brethren, I don't completely agree with the way we've made "overcoming adversity" the most important criteria. Here in Colorado, we nominated Avalanche winger Andrew Brunette, who has the league's longest ironman streak.

Rockies relief pitcher John Axford, who hasn't pitched for the team since last Wednesday, was forced to leave spring training camp after his 2-year-old son was bit by a rattlesnake twice in his right foot.

One-day event to run slide down University HillIt's not quite the alternative mode of transportation that Boulder's used to, but, for one day this summer, residents will be able to traverse several city blocks atop inflatable tubes.

DETROIT (AP) — In a story March 27 about a 'Little Syria' exhibit going to Ellis Island, The Associated Press, due to incorrect information from the Arab American National Museum, erroneously reported the date the exhibit will open. Full Story